Almost instinctively, Leonard glanced around and found that none of the other Tarot Club members looked surprised or shocked; they were all listening intently.
They already knew? Well, this is only my second time attending this gathering, so there's a lot I haven't touched upon... There are so many secrets involved here... Leonard withdrew his gaze and resumed his previous sitting posture.
"Justice" Audrey paused for a moment, glanced at "The Hierophant" Xio two seats away, then turned her gaze to Mr. "The Hanged Man" and continued:
"He tried to give me psychological suggestions, asking me to interact more with different nobles in my daily life to understand their true attitudes on various matters and then report to him. Fortunately, Mr. Fool had an angel give me a blessing, so I wasn't actually affected. Hmm, what should I do next?"
An angel giving a "blessing"? Leonard was stunned again and looked around, but still didn't see any other member show an obvious emotional reaction.
Of course, he wasn't at all surprised that there were angels under Mr. Fool's divine throne, since he had heard the title "Death Consul" and the corresponding name many times.
He was simply astonished that the Tarot Club members seemed able to regularly request such a high level of assistance, which made him think even more highly of this secret organization.
Meanwhile, "The Hierophant" Xio keenly picked up on a few keywords:
"Nobles... Psychology Alchemists..."
Combined with the golden hair and green eyes that could be seen through the hazy silhouette of Miss "Justice," she seemed to be able to connect it to a friend:
Audrey Hall!
However, she couldn't be sure, because among the noble circle of Loen, blond hair, black hair, green eyes, and blue eyes were all quite common, just with different combinations. Moreover, no one knew how many members the Psychology Alchemists had developed in this circle. So based only on the characteristics just summarized, Xio felt it couldn't directly point to Miss Audrey.
As she tried to observe further, "The Hanged Man" Alger had already taken the initiative to speak:
"There's no need to worry too much about this. The orthodox churches all have corresponding protective measures for their relatively important believers to prevent them from being assassinated or hypnotized. This is experience accumulated over thousands of years and won't be easily broken. From another perspective, if the Psychology Alchemists could so easily manipulate nobles and hypnotize them, then it wouldn't be the royal family and the three major churches that rule this kingdom. Obviously, the facts contradict that.
"Yes, as you said, Hevin Lambis only suggested you observe the true attitudes of different nobles on different matters. This shows he was very restrained and didn't dare go too far, to avoid leaving unnecessary traces. On the other hand, your actual position in the noble circle is only on the fringe; you don't directly participate in various political events. So relatively speaking, the protection and scrutiny of your situation won't be that tight. That's also why Hevin Lambis chose you as his target."
Mr. "The Hanged Man" analyzes so meticulously... Although he often used to teach Little Sun and the others like this before, it always had an implicit demand, hoping to get useful information from the feedback. But this time there is nothing like that. Hmm, his suggestion on the punitive action earlier was also like that... Come to think of it, this change in him has been going on for quite a while, but it wasn't so obvious before, so I overlooked it... "Justice" Audrey, acting on her professional instinct, quickly performed a psychological analysis of "The Hanged Man."
She soon had a certain guess, suspecting that Mr. "The Hanged Man" was undergoing a transformation in his self-positioning!
Ever since "The Hermit" lady joined the Tarot Club and demonstrated her channels and resources on the sea, Mr. "The Hanged Man" had unconsciously sought change, trying to differentiate his role from hers... Before the "Artisan" had problems, this change wasn't obvious, and even Mr. "The Hanged Man" himself lacked a clear recognition of it. Only recently did he seem to finally think it through and understand... Indeed, to maintain his position in the Tarot Club, improving his strength is one aspect, and what help he can provide to the whole is another... "Justice" Audrey's thoughts raced, and she brought her focus back to the previous topic.
She paused thoughtfully, and her tone unconsciously turned serious:
"Does this also mean that the orthodox churches have a certain degree of monitoring, control, and guidance over important nobles?"
This was something she had thought of earlier in the "Loen Charitable Education Fund" office.
The picture she had unconsciously drawn reflected her concerns in this regard!
In psychology, elements depicted in such a state often don't point to specific things but are more abstract expressions. And "cold eyes" often represent the fear of being watched, monitored, and controlled by external forces over oneself and one's family.
Combining the worry about Hevin Lambis's psychological suggestion before the unconscious drawing, and the recollection that when her parents attended the High Mass of the Church of the Goddess of the Night, the officiant was the Archbishop of Backlund, Audrey concluded that she was not only afraid of the Psychology Alchemists' hypnosis and suggestions, but also feared that the orthodox churches might directly use supernatural abilities to instill thoughts into important noble believers and guide them to act against their true beliefs.
For Audrey, who had received a proper education since childhood, this was a kind of blasphemy and rebellion. So at that time, she tensed up and quickly burned the piece of paper with the drawing.
After listening to Miss "Justice's" question, "The Hanged Man" Alger sneered:
"Isn't this normal? Living in human society, you have to accept a certain amount of monitoring, control, and guidance.
"I understand what you're afraid of, but think about it: what's the essential difference between the control and guidance achieved through power, status, money, and guns, and similar actions achieved through supernatural abilities?
"The difference is that in one case, you know you don't want to do it but have to, while in the other, you don't even have the thought that you don't want to do it."
Audrey immediately nodded.